Visually undistorted thin film electronic devices
A thin film semiconductor device includes a substrate, a stack of thin film material layers on the substrate, and a scribe fill material in the gap. The stack includes a scribe gap in at least one thin film material layer of the stack. The scribe fill material includes one or more coloring elements selected according to a difference between a baseline optical characteristics spectrum for the stack and an optical characteristics spectrum for thin film material remaining in the scribe gap.
1 . A thin film semiconductor device comprising:
a substrate;
a stack of thin film material layers on the substrate; and
a scribe fill material located within a scribe gap, wherein:
the scribe gap is an area defined by an absence of at least one thin film material layer of the stack of thin film material layers; and
the scribe fill material includes at least one coloring element that is selected according to a difference between (i) a first optical characteristics spectrum for the stack of thin film material layers and (ii) a second optical characteristics spectrum for thin film material layers remaining beneath the scribe gap.
2 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein:
the at least one coloring element is selected such that a combined optical characteristics spectrum matches the first optical characteristics spectrum within a minimum perceptible difference for an industry defined standard observer, and
the combined optical characteristics spectrum is based on the second optical characteristics spectrum and the scribe fill material.
3 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein:
the at least one coloring element is selected such that a combined optical characteristics spectrum matches the first optical characteristics spectrum within a ΔE2000≤3, and
the combined optical characteristics spectrum is based on the second optical characteristics spectrum and the scribe fill material.
4 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein:
ratios of the at least one coloring element is selected such that the ratios of the at least one coloring element drive a combined optical characteristics spectrum to obtain the first optical characteristics spectrum, and
the combined optical characteristics spectrum is based on the second optical characteristics spectrum and the scribe fill material.
5 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein:
the at least one coloring element is selected such that a combined optical characteristics spectrum matches the first optical characteristics spectrum with ≤5% deviation across the visual light spectrum and ≤2% deviation for at least one wavelength within the visual light spectrum, and
the combined optical characteristics spectrum is based on the second optical characteristics spectrum and the scribe fill material.
6 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the scribe fill material includes an insulating material.
7 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 6 wherein the scribe fill material includes at least one of: an organic polymer, an organic-inorganic hybrid material, an inorganic polymer, or a ceramic material.
8 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the scribe fill material includes a conducting material.
9 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 8 wherein the scribe fill material includes at least one of: a semitransparent conductor, a transparent conducting oxide (TCO), a semiconducting organic polymer, or an opaque conductor.
10 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein a thin film material of the stack of thin film material layers is incorporated as part of the at least one coloring element.
11 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the substrate includes a rigid material.
12 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the substrate includes a glass pane.
13 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the substrate includes a plastic material.
14 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the substrate includes an opaque material.
15 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the scribe fill material and the at least one coloring element are soluble in a solvent.
16 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the scribe fill material is deposited in the scribe gap by at least one of: aerosol jet printing, inkjet printing, screen printing, gravure printing, or spectrographic micro contract printing.
17 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the at least one coloring element includes at least one of: a pigment material or a dye material.
18 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the stack of thin film material layers includes at least one active semiconductor layer.
19 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 18 wherein the at least one active semiconductor layer includes an organic photovoltaic semiconductor absorber layer.
20 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the scribe fill material includes:
a first scribe fill material embedded with a first coloring element of the at least one coloring element; and
a second scribe fill material embedded with a second coloring element of the at least one coloring element.